Thames TV

Well an educated guess tells me that this programme was either slaging off either her or her party but what was the programme actully about?

>I think Family Affairs is made in independent studios.
Family affairs showed an interesting case of Pearson mismanaging it's brand names. It carries a Thames endcap, but (on the same endcap) was copyrighted to 'Worldwide Grundy Productions'.

I hope that without Pearson, the brand names will be used more responsibly i.e. anything UK based should be a Thames Production and anything Australian should be a Grundy Production. People recognise Thames and Grundy as UK and Australian companies respectively and it only causes confusion to have a (completely pointless considering it's just a brand name) UK arm of Grundy alongside the Australian Grundy which is completely different (in Australia it's still Grundy Television Pty. Ltd unlike the rest of the world when it's Worldwide Grundy Productions). Hopefully a new Grundy logo will come in to replace that stupid gold G which pearson introduced (I'd personally like to see the diamons come back, it should never have been axed).

Don't forget, Grundy have also made a few British shows too. Going For Gold and Celebrity Squares spring to mind. Maybe they weren't considered high enough quality to bear the Thames name!

Returning to the subject of Catchphrase... I'd conclude that the current style is good, but it's not right.

Death On The Rock revealed that the Tory Government sanctioned a shoot to kill policy which resulted in the death of IRA suspects in Gibraltar (3 I think) - it was a defining moment in Maggie's descent into madness.

Thames is now a production company and not a broadcaster and don't expect that to change. RTL must be more interested in developing Channel 5 (at least Europeans can pronounce this brand) which is a national station (just about). Also, at the moment I would much rather be selling product to ITV than trying to become a part of it - at least until DTT gets sorted and Carlton/Granada sink or swim.

It seems the glory days of Teddington Studios are not completely over: they now produce and transmit AuctionWorld...hmmm. And HDS is left with Channel 4 Racing. No wonder they are knocking down studios in London.

>Don't forget, Grundy have also made a few British shows too. >Going For Gold and Celebrity Squares spring to mind. Maybe >they weren't considered high enough quality to bear the
If Grundy people actually made the show, then of course it should be a Grundy production. But if as in recent years, Grundy and Thames are just brands of Pearson, then if Pearson UK people make the programme, what defines whether it is a Thames Production or a Grundy Production? There seems to be no pattern. 100% is a Grundy production but Family affairs is a Thames Production (and FA despite being a Thames production used to carry a Grundy copyright line - what's going on there?).

Surely if Thames and Grundy are well established in their respective countries and both are brand names for Pearson and all staff are employed by Pearson, then it is better to have only Thames here and only Grundy in Australia unless there is a very good reason for doing otherwise (i.e. a precedent set when Thames was Thames and Grundy was Grundy instead of being brand names of Pearson, or Grundy Television's people working on a UK show etc.)

Does anybody have any pics of the old Thames building on the Euston Road? Either while they were there, or as it is now??

Well, first of all, 100% was axed about a year ago.

Secondly, after the Fremantle rebrand, all UK productions are Thames productions, and Australian shows are Grundy Productions. (Grundy had a UK office, but I think it has now merged with Thames' production dept).

Might be able to do you some screengrabs from an old Thames Christmas tape when I find it

Just noticed that Fremantle have launched their new website.